


figuring it out

by onlyeverthus



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 03:04:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5895670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyeverthus/pseuds/onlyeverthus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose, Clara, and Ten II figure out how to navigate their relationship in the parallel world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	figuring it out

**Author's Note:**

> Follow up to [three becomes two](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4859615)

Clara smiles as she looks at Rose, the other girl's features shadowed in the darkened room. The only light comes from the moon, white beams streaming through the glass doors to Rose's balcony, and gives everything a dreamy, almost mystical quality.

"I love being with you like this," Clara says softly. "I mean, not just the sex, though that's fantastic too –" Her lips twitch when Rose laughs softly. "But I mean all of it. I wanted this for so long."

"How come you never told me?" Rose murmurs, reaching for Clara's hand and weaving their fingers together. Clara can't help smiling at the way it feels, reminded of how she held Rose's hand so tight when the Doctor – the _other_ Doctor – brought them to Bad Wolf Bay, refusing to lose her again.

Clara shrugs. "I was confused. You'd been my best mate since we were little, and I guess I just couldn't – reconcile that with my new feelings. They didn't even start, or maybe I just didn't realize them, until I started traveling with you and the Doctor, and seeing how you felt about him... It made me jealous, and that surprised me. And then I just figured you wouldn't want me. You know, like that."

Rose nods, her thumb rubbing absently over Clara's knuckle. "Yeah, I guess it was the same for me. I loved you both, but my feelings for him felt stronger, maybe because my feelings for you felt... wrong. And then I lost you, both of you, and it just about killed me."

Clara squeezes Rose's fingers, and Rose gives her a small smile.

"Did you stay with him?" she asks. "After?"

"For a little while. I loved him too, but it was hard without you. You were always first for me, you know? Finally, I just had him take me home, but we kept in contact. He'd come back every once in a while to see me, and we'd catch up a bit. I met Martha, and then Donna. And then there was the whole mess with the Earth being stolen, but you know how that went."

"Yeah," Rose says with a laugh. She stares at Clara a moment, and then grips her fingers, leaning forward for a kiss. "I'm so glad I have you back."

Clara smiles, studying Rose's face for a moment, and then raises her eyebrows. "You have both of us back, you know."

Rose's smile fades, and she shakes her head, turning onto her back as she raises a hand to her hair.

"He's the same man," Clara says, propping up on her elbow so she can see Rose's face.

"Yeah, but he's not. It's just – He looks the same, talks the same, but it's just not – It doesn't feel right."

"He is the _same_ , Rose. Literally the same. I've been spending a lot of time with him, helping him settle in, and we talk about everything, we reminisce about when we all used to travel together, and he remembers everything. Every single little thing. He remembers how you take your tea, he remembers how I used to hang out in the TARDIS library when I couldn't sleep, he remembers the movie theater we set up in the garden."

Rose is looking at her now, her eyebrows knitted together as she bites her lip, and Clara shakes her head.

"He's the same man, and he still loves you so much, and he needs you."

"I do miss him," Rose whispers, and Clara can see the shine of tears in her eyes. "It's been hard, seeing him every day, but feeling like it's not the same, but if you say he is..."

A beat passes, and then Clara shifts to get out of bed, finding her pajamas on the floor and pulling them on.

"Where are you going?" Rose asks as she sits up.

"I'll be back," Clara says, and strides from the room. She hurries down the hall, her bare feet whispering on the carpet, and then stops outside a door and raps her knuckles quietly on the wood.

It opens a moment later, and the Doctor stares back at her. He's in his pajamas, but she has a feeling he wasn't sleeping, and she smiles as she reaches for his hand.

"Come with me."

She leads him back down the hall to Rose's room, and they push inside. Rose is dressed now, sitting up in bed, and she bites her lip when she sees the two of them.

"Hi," she says softly.

"Hello," he replies, just as softly.

Rose shifts, pulling back the covers, and Clara gives the Doctor a small push towards the bed as Rose pats the space on her left. The Doctor walks slowly around the bed and sits on the edge, glancing back uncertainly, and Rose lies down, tugging lightly on the Doctor's arm. He lies beside her, and she rests her head on his chest; a beat passes, and his arm curls around her shoulders.

Clara watches, smiling, and then climbs into bed behind Rose, pressing against her back. She both hears and feels Rose sigh, and then Rose whispers, "I'm sorry."

"I know," the Doctor replies, his arm tightening around Rose's shoulders.

Clara squeezes her too, pressing a kiss to her back, and they fall asleep like that, all three cuddled together.

 

 

The Doctor smiles as he looks at Rose, lifting his hand to brush his fingertips over her cheek. Moonlight streams through the windows, and he loves the way it illuminates Rose's features, somehow making her even more gorgeous.

"This is so nice," he murmurs. "Not just the sex, of course, but just being with you again. I missed you so much."

"I know," she replies, smiling back. "I'm still sorry for being such a twat –"

"It's okay," he says with a soft laugh. "I know it was a lot to get used to. It was a lot for me to get used to, too. You know, the whole being human thing."

"Yeah, but you had Clara."

The Doctor nods. "She definitely helped. This helps even more."

Rose smiles again, but her eyebrows draw together in almost the same moment, and the Doctor's expression turns curious.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Clara. I feel like I've been neglecting her by spending so much time with you these past few weeks, but I don't know how to balance this –"

The Doctor gives a short laugh. "Who said you had to balance anything? You don't have to spend time with us separately. It's not like Clara and I hate each other."

Rose's frown deepens. "So... you'd be okay with like, all three of us going on dates together and stuff?"

"Rose, this isn't you and me, and you and Clara. It's you, me, and Clara, all three together. I know you love her, and I love her almost as much as I love you. She loves you, and I think it's safe to say that she loves me too. It might be a little unconventional, but that's what we have, and I think we should embrace it."

"You think so?" Rose asks, still looking uncertain.

Instead of replying, the Doctor gets out of bed and pulls on his pajama bottoms, and tells Rose he'll be right back as he leaves the room. He taps softly on Clara's door a few moments later, and she answers it in her pajamas, thought it doesn't look like she was sleeping.

"Come with me," he whispers, reaching for her hand.

Together, they walk to Rose's bedroom, finding her dressed and sitting up in bed, and she smiles when she sees the two of them.

"I think I'm finally figuring it out," she says.

Clara looks up at the Doctor, her expression confused, and he smiles too. "This relationship isn't just about the couplings within. It's all three of us, together."

"We love you, Clara," Rose adds, and Clara looks back at her. "And I'm so sorry for excluding you lately."

Clara finally smiles as well, tears shining in her eyes. "I love you too, both of you."

Rose holds out her hand, and Clara moves forward, the Doctor close behind.

When Clara reaches Rose, she slides her hand over the other girl's, and Rose pulls her down for a kiss. It deepens in an instant, Clara climbing onto Rose's lap as Rose's fingers slide into Clara's hair, and the mattress creaks softly as the Doctor settles beside them on the bed.

The kiss breaks, and Clara looks over at him, her heart fluttering as he stares back at her. She's loved him for ages, since before they lost Rose, but everything was so complicated back then, and things haven't been much easier now, so for as much as they love each other, they've never even kissed, but that changes when the Doctor presses his lips to hers. She turns towards him, her tongue sliding against his as his fingers fist in her hair, and this is all so strange and wonderful, his lips on hers, Rose's hands on her thighs, and the steadily building ache between her legs.

Soon they're all shifting, Clara sliding off Rose's lap to lay back on the bed, the Doctor still kissing her as he moves with her, and Rose turning onto her side, watching the two of them.

The Doctor shares a look with Rose, who gives him a smirk and a small bob of her head, and then starts to move down Clara's body, pushing her tank top up to kiss her stomach as his fingers hook over the waist of her pajama bottoms. Her breath catches as he starts to tug them down, and she lifts her head to watch what he's doing, heart pounding in anticipation. He tosses her pajama bottoms to the floor, and moves back over her, kissing her stomach once more and slowly moving downward.

When his tongue darts between her folds, she gasps, her back arching as her mouth falls open. Her eyes drift closed, the fingers of one hand sliding into his hair, and then she feels Rose move beside her. Clara opens her eyes again to see Rose lean closer, and they share a heated kiss before Rose moves her lips to Clara's neck. Rose's hand, meanwhile, drops to the edge of Clara's tank top, and she pulls it up to expose Clara's breasts, her nipples hard and aching.

Clara pushes up so she can tug her top off, and gasps again when Rose's lips close around her right nipple. The Doctor's head is still between her thighs, his nose brushing against her clit as he laps at her, and between the two of them and their clever tongues, Clara feels like she's about to explode.

The Doctor slides two fingers inside of her as he sucks on her clit, and when Rose drags her teeth over Clara's nipple, Clara loses it, her fingers clutching at the sheets as she comes hard, crying out with her head tipped back against the pillows.

Rose shifts to kiss the Doctor, savoring the taste of Clara on his lips and tongue, and then the Doctor moves up Clara's body to kiss her. Her arms wrap around his neck, and she can feel his erection through his pajama bottoms as he presses against her.

"Make love to me, Doctor," she breathes over his lips, her fingers sliding into his hair, and he doesn't need more encouragement than that. He quickly removes his pajama bottoms and slides his hand under Clara's thigh, pulling her legs farther apart as he pushes into her. She moans at the sensation, her head tipping back once more, and he gently grips her chin to bring her head forward so he can kiss her again, his hand dropping to her neck.

Rose watches, not too fussed about not being included in this particular moment. Her guilt over unintentionally excluding Clara over the past few weeks had been almost unbearable, and she's happy that they've worked things out, that they can now enjoy each other like this all at once, without feeling like they have to divide their time. Plus, she knows that Clara and the Doctor haven't yet had sex with each other, and she wants to let them experience each other in that sense. Early on, when they'd first embarked on this idea of a three-way relationship, when things were still messy and uncertain, she wondered if she might be jealous watching them like this, but faced with it now, she's just enjoying watching them enjoying each other.

After a few minutes, Clara glances at Rose, and then whispers, "Turn over," to the Doctor. He obliges, and she moves with him, glancing at Rose again as she straddles his lap. He quickly gets the hint, and stretches his hand towards Rose.

"C'mere, love," he says, a rather devilish grin on his face. She arches an eyebrow at him and moves towards him on her knees, and his hand presses against her hip, pulling her even closer. She figures out what he wants, and quickly removes her pajamas before positioning herself over him, her thighs warm against his ears as her hands rise to grip the top edge of the headboard. She looks back at Clara to see her guiding him inside of her once more, and as she begins to move, so does the Doctor's tongue.

Rose gasps, facing forward again, her fingers tight on the headboard as the Doctor licks at her. He groans occasionally, the sound forced from him by whatever Clara is doing to him, and the sensation makes Rose shiver.

The bed is creaking from their movements, but none of them really care as Clara drops forward slightly, her hands pressing against the Doctor's torso as she moves her hips faster.

Meanwhile, Rose grinds against his mouth, her grip on the headboard equal to his grip on her hips, hissing through her teeth when his teeth scrape over her clit. She feels Clara's breath on her back, thinks she even feels Clara press a kiss to her shoulder blade, and thinks that the next time they do this, she's going to face the other way.

After a few minutes, Rose comes, her whole body tensing as her orgasm rushes through her, and hears Clara follow just a few seconds later. The Doctor's hands leave Rose's hips as he grunts, and she can only assume that he's holding tight to Clara's hips as he spills inside of her.

Several moments pass, and then Rose falls back and to the side, giggling breathlessly when she bumps into Clara. They shift to lie next to each other, their legs stretched across the Doctor, and Clara brings her hand up to brush Rose's hair back as they kiss. When it breaks, Clara slides her arm around Rose, and Rose presses a kiss to Clara's forehead as Clara lowers her head.

The three of them lay quietly for a while, catching their breath and enjoying the silence, Rose and Clara cuddling as the Doctor rubs his hands absently over their legs.

Eventually, Clara sighs, and mumbles sleepily, "If I fall asleep like this, I'm so gonna regret it in the morning, because this isn't all that comfortable."

Rose and the Doctor laugh, and they all stand to clean themselves up and get dressed in their pajamas once more before climbing back into bed, Rose in the middle with Clara and the Doctor on either side of her.

"This is perfect," Rose whispers, her heart swelling with love and contentment.

Clara and the Doctor hum their agreement, and the sound of their breathing, along with the rhythmic pulse of their hearts beating, lulls them all to sleep.


End file.
